The Ghost Girl of the Manor
by Rinusagitora
Summary: HIATUS. IshiNemu, CandiBambi. Ghost!Nemu AU. Rated T for implied murder. /Uryuu is spending the summer at his grandfather's, and somehow befriends the ghost inhabiting his home./
1. Nemu

Hello! This was a request off of my tumblr, and I have to say, I quite enjoyed writing it. So much so that I'm half-tempted to continue it. Nothing finalized however. I hope y'all enjoy!

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He stared up at the towering, white plantation house before him from the mouth of the sidewalk, his dufflebag on the ground next to his leg, and a soft smile played at his thin lips.

"Uryuu," he heard behind him, and he turned his gangly body to face his father behind him. The driver's window to his dad's corvette was rolled down, and the doctor had an unlit cigarette dangling between his teeth. His father was slim, like himself, thinner than a line of cocaine and as white as one too. His father's hair was long, slicked back and curling at the nape of his neck. He hadn't changed it much since the eighties, not from the pictures Uncle Isshin had shown him from their high school days, though he was greying at the roots. He looked exactly like his father outside of that, a hooked nose with square glasses perched on the tip, and narrow eyes and an icy, blue stare.

"Yeah?" Uryuu replied. "What do you want?"

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" His father asked, and he watched him tap his slender fingers on the steering wheel.

"It's just Grandpa. I'll be fine." He mumbled, turning his torso forward and rolling his eyes.

"Alright, I'll see you at the end of the month, then. Make sure to call me this weekend."

"Yeah, sure. Bye,"

He listened to his father roll up the window and drive off, and he picked up his bag and ran up the sidewalk, and he enthusiastically knocked on the double doors with the brass knockers. It opened a few moments later to an adolescent woman, acid green hair crimped down to the small of her back and oddly stylized eyebrows that reminded him of thunder bolts and round, grassy eyes and thick mascara applied to her eyelashes. She was wearing a white, sleeveless crop top, a barbell visible under the blouse through the top of her bellybutton and pink, frayed short-shorts, and embroidered cowboy boots.

"Oh hey," she said with a slight, southern twang. "You gotta be Uryuu. Souken's been waiting. Follow me, and I'll take you to him." She said, and he blinked as he quietly followed her, kicking the door shut behind him.

"Wh-who're you?" He asked.

"Candice, but you can call me Candi. I'm Souken's part-time maid. He's actually pretty chill, for an old timer. Nothing like my grandpa. Makes hella good food too."

Uryuu nodded, adjusting his bag over his shoulder. He remembered his grandfather's stew the best, warm and salty and everything in it just right. It was his favorite.

"Yeah," he replied. "How's Grandpa been?"

"He's been cool. Kinda lonely, but he's been taking his cholesterol meds and eating better, and he's quit smoking in the last six months, so that's a plus." She grinned at him.

He nodded as they jumped up the stairs.

"Souken once gave me dating advice, you know. I told him that I was with this guy, but I was only going out with him 'cause everybody was saying I should give him a chance and I didn't actually like him, and Souken said that I shouldn't do that. He said that dating was meant to make both people happy, and if one of 'em wasn't happy then it wasn't a relationship. So, I dumped him and now I'm happily dating this girl named Bambietta, and she says she's happy too." Candice grinned at him.

"O-oh," he replied, and she turned at the top of the stairs. She pulled her wallet out of her boot and flipped it open, revealing a photo of her and a pretty, dark-haired girl in a tank top and miniskirt kissing.

"She's pretty, huh?" She grinned widely, and he nodded. She was _really_ pretty.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"C'mon, I should stop blabbering and take you to Souken. He's been excited to see you for, like, a month." She tucked the pink leather fold into her boot and they stepped down the hall.

She knocked on a dark-stained oak door at the end of the hall, and it opened, revealing his elderly grandfather, hunched over and his hands clasped behind him, clad in jeans and a plaid, flannel shirt. Uryuu grinned, pushing past the teen and throwing his arms around his grandfather, and the elder chuckled and patted the boy's back.

"Oh, Uryuu, my boy, I missed you. Look at how tall you've grown. How old are you now?" He said with a gravelly voice, a consequence of years of smoking.

The boy pushed off of him, beaming widely. "I'm eleven now!" He said cheerfully.

"My, you're getting so old! Soon, you're going to be all grown up."

"But Grandpa, I _am_ grown up." He pouted.

"Ohoho," Souken chuckled, stroking his grey mustache. "You're right, my mistake." He looked over to the green-haired teen. "Candice, sweetheart, could you show Uryuu to his room? I'll start preparing dinner downstairs. You're free to stay if you want."

"Yeah! C'mon, Uryuu, let's go!" She tugged the boy away, and he cried out in alarm as he stumbled over his feet. He hurried behind the girl, walking at a brisk pace.

His room was a few halls down. It was a clean, open space with a neatly made, twin-sized bed against the far wall with a colorful quilt draped over it, a short nightstand next to it, and a dresser by the door with themed collection of cowboy trinkets decorating it, and green curtains filtering the sun from the window, and a ringed rug in the center. It was homey— warm and loving. It was like his grandfather.

He smiled to himself.

"Meet you downstairs, kid." Candice clicked her tongue and winked at him before skipping out of sight.

He walked in, and he set his bag in front of the dresser, zipping it open. He quickly brought out his clothes, folded them nicely, and set them in organized drawers.

At the bottom of his bag was a framed picture, and he pulled it out and held it in his hands. It was a photo of a woman, a _beautiful_ woman, her dark hair tied up in a bun and a kind smile with laugh lines like parentheses around her lips and crows feet at the corners of her eyes, sitting in a swing in her garden and a tiny baby cradled in her arms. It was his mother, who died almost ten years ago from a heart condition. And he missed her terribly.

He set the photo on his nightstand and then he quickly ran out of his room, winding through the maze-like halls.

He froze suddenly, and he slowly turned around, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt weird, like he was being watched.

He cautiously walked towards the corner, peeking his head past it and staring down the hall. It was a huge house, scary and creaky and dark, a perfect setting for ghosts.

But there was nothing. Nothing there, no one there.

He turned on the ball of his foot and ran back downstairs and found the kitchen.

His grandfather was by the stove, chopping onions and carrots on a wooden cutting board, and Candice sat on a vinyl bar stool near the counter, swinging her legs and texting on a samsung cell. He climbed onto the stool next to her, leaning on his folded arms.

"Grandpa, what're you making?" Uryuu inquired.

"Stew, I remember you loving it." He responded.

"Is it the one with pork in it?" Candice grinned hopefully.

"The one and only." Souken said cheerfully, and the two kids beamed at each other.

The old man reached over and turned on the radio in the corner, and soft country music played through the room. There was brief static, and Souken slapped it, and it returned to normal.

"I just got that thing repaired last week, and it's not even a year old." He muttered. "How frustrating."

"Hey, you sure the thing isn't just a dud?" Candice inquired.

"No, because every radio I've owned in this house has had difficulty. Actually, almost every electronic has had fits. It's why I still use paper filing."

"Grandpa," Uryuu chirped. "Is there someone else in the house?"

"What? No. The workers aren't allowed in the residence unless there's an emergency out in the fields." The elder said. "There shouldn't be any intruders."

"'Kay," The boy said. So he was dreaming, he thought, just the house playing tricks on him.

"So Uryuu, how about you tell us about the science fair? I remember your dad telling me that you won first place." His grandfather inquired.

"All I did was make exploding bubbles. I put hydrogen and oxygen in soapy water, and then I blew it up with a match. Szayelaporro just made foam by mixing together yeast, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap. I blew him out of the water." He smirked.

"My, that sounds amazing." Souken said. "You'll have to give Candice and me a demonstration sometime during your stay. We can pick up whatever you need tomorrow."

"Explosions? I'm so in!" The teen grinned. "Can I bring Bambi too?"

"S-sure, I don't see why not." Uryuu stammered.

"Yeah!" She whooped.

The night was a blur after that, the conversation and dinner, Candice leaving, and soon he was told to get ready for bed.

He laid on his side in the darkness, curled up in a ball and holding the quilt close to him. It was freezing, even for night. It was June for heaven's sake, he thought, it shouldn't have been as frigid as it was.

He watched the hours go by on the alarm clock on the nightstand, unable to sleep because of the temperature, until it was close to midnight and he was struggling to stay awake.

"Hey," he heard, and he bolted up to a sitting position, pushing back his blanket and reaching for his glasses. He pushed them on his thin face, and he looked at the space near the nightstand.

There was a girl, around his age, ten or eleven, peeking over his bed. She was cute, with big, pine-green eyes, and a braided, raven bob, skin as white as snow, and she wore a pretty black dress.

"Wh-who are you?" He whispered to the young girl, and he scowled, wondering how he could see her so clearly in the darkness of his room.

"Nemu," she whispered. "What's your name?"

He crossed his legs and pulled her up onto his bed, and he noted how cold she was, and he wrapped a blanket around her. She sat on her legs, her skirt spread out in a circle around her, and her hands fidgeted in her lap.

"I'm Uryuu. What're you doing in here? Isn't it way past your bedtime?"

She shook her head, her eyes focused on her tiny hands. "No. I don't have a bedtime."

"What?" He whined. "Lucky. Ryuuken and Grandpa don't let me stay up past eight."

"Who's Ryuuken?" She inquired softly.

"My dad. He's really mean though. I don't like him. He wants me to become a doctor, but I don't want to be one." Uryuu frowned, and then he beamed. "But I like Grandpa, even though he puts me to bed at eight. He makes good food and he gives amazing advice and he likes my science tricks and he's really nice. He helped Candi and Bambi get together, too."

Her shoulders trembled. "You're lucky." She croaked. "You have somebody who's like a daddy. You have somebody that loves you. I don't think I have anybody that loves me anymore." She whimpered, and he watched tears spill from her eyes, and his heart thumped against his ribs.

"Wh-why? Are your parents mean too?"

She scooted off the bed and tugged him off too with her cold hands, and she led him out of his room and through the house. He obediently and curiously followed behind her, out the front door and around the house and through the fields. It was different at night, the plantation. It seemed bigger, like a black hole that swallowed everything and wouldn't let anyone go until daylight. It was almost... beautiful, how isolated it felt.

She led him out back, through the cotton, and he watched as the mansion disappeared. They finally stopped, and he saw that the moon made her seem translucent, and it was almost like she cast off her own light.

She pointed before her, and his eyes widened. They were at the mouth of the graveyard, standing in front of two weathered gravestones. He crouched down in front of them, squinting.

 _Nemu Kurotsuchi_

 _1853-1864_

And

 _Mayuri Kurotsuchi_

 _1834-1877_

He looked to Nemu, and she almost looked ashamed, and a little fearful.

"One night, Daddy came into my room, and he had a big knife from the kitchen, and he cut my neck, and it hurt, and it felt like I was drowning. He left me in the basement, and I wasn't found until he died. We were buried right next to each other, and it makes me angry. I know it shouldn't, because he's my Daddy, but it still hurts sometimes. I wonder all the time why he did all he did, and if he knew how much it hurt, and how much it _still_ hurts, and I wonder if he knows how lonely I've become, and how much try to get people to notice me but they just ignore me." He watched her lip wobble, and his heart stuttered. She was an apparition, he realized, old and lonely and hurting, betrayed by the one person she was supposed to believe in. And it made him sad.

"I'll be your friend." Uryuu said. "I'm here for two months, we can play all we want in that time."

Nemu looked over at him with her green eyes wide and her dainty mouth in an _o_. "R-really? Do you promise?"

"Yeah, we can be friends. It's not like I have any friends here, and it's not like you do, so why not?" He grinned at her, and she crouched down and wrapped her tiny arms around him. She cried on his shoulder, and he sat there awkwardly, unsure how to comfort crying girls.

"U-um," he twisted in her arms and clumsily hugged her. "Don't cry please, it's okay." He said as he stroked her pretty braid.

"I'm sorry," she hiccupped, and he noticed that her tears weren't wetting his shirt. She sat up and dried her eyes. "Thank you."

"Y-yeah," he stuttered. "I'm going to give a demonstration of how to make exploding bubbles tomorrow. Do you want to come?"

She looked up at him, her vibrant eyes hopeful, and his belly fluttered. "Really?"

"Yeah!" He grinned at her, and a new wave of tears overcame her.

The two children headed back to the plantation, hand in hand, and she quietly brought him back to his room. He tucked himself in and curled up into a ball, placing his glasses on the nightstand, and he smiled at Nemu.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Nemu, and we'll play lots and lots." He mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Okay, night. I can't wait to see you tomorrow."


	2. The Day After

Hello! I'm back with chapter two! I'm not sure how regularly I can post this, but I'll get chapters out as fast as I can without sacrificing quality. Enjoy~

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Uryuu scrunched his face before he opened his eyes, and he sat up, and he rubbed his eyelids with the pads up his thumbs. He pushed on his glasses and combed through his fingers through his dark hair.

"Nemu," he mumbled, and there wasn't an answer, or any other noises, and he tried not to be disappointed.

He crawled out of bed and neatly remade it, remembering that his grandpa liked having everything neat and orderly. He dressed in day clothes, folding his pajamas on the foot of his bed, and he brushed his teeth in the bathroom, and he ran downstairs, following his nose to the kitchen. His grandfather was at the stove flipping pancakes, and the boy slid onto a stool.

"Good morning, Uryuu. How'd you sleep?" The elder inquired, and he hummed.

"Pretty good. But you lied, Grandpa, there is somebody else here. Her name's Nemu, and she's my new friend. She took me to her grave last night and said that her dad was really mean to her and even cut her throat."

"Wow, that's some dream. Very vivid." He responded.

"It wasn't a dream." Uryuu whined. "Nemu's real. She's pretty, too. Real soft hair and pretty eyes and she wears a really cute dress. She's really cold though."

"Alright, Nemu's real. You'll have to introduce me to her sometime." Souken said, and he watched him flip a chocolate chip pancake onto a plate. "Do you want butter and syrup?"

The boy nodded. "Yes please." He replied, and the elder slathered his breakfast in butter and maple syrup and handed it to him with a fork. "Thank you, Grandpa."

"Of course, my boy." The elder laughed softly. "Tell me about your friend Nemu."

"She's a ghost. She came into my room last night and we talked I said I'd be her friend because she was lonely. Her dad was real mean to her while she was alive, and it makes her sad, and I don't like it was girls are sad, especially pretty girls." He explained as he ate. "When's Candi coming?"

"Her hours are technically twelve to three, but she often comes here earlier and stays for dinner, and sometimes brings Bambietta with her. I don't mind much, because she gets the job done and does it well, and Bambietta rarely causes anyone trouble."

He nodded. "Do you think Candi would like Nemu?"

"I don't see why not." Souken responded. "Is Nemu with us right now?"

He shook his head. "No, and I don't know where she is. I bet if I looked I could find her." He smiled to himself. "She said she'd come to my demonstration, too."

"Speaking of that, I have lots of work to do today, so I'll take you to the store this evening."

"Okay,"

Uryuu finished his meal and washed his plate, and then informed his grandfather that he was going to play elsewhere.

He ventured through the house, peeking in rooms, which there were a lot of. Several guest bedrooms, a family room with a television and a stereo and a cabinet full of games, at least four bathrooms plus the bathroom in the master bedroom, and a library with encyclopedias and atlases and a series of handsome leather-bound Christian texts. Behind the house was a patio stuffed with potted plants. A lemon tree, basil, oregano, rosemary, a few other herbs, aloe vera, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and a lot of flowers and other decorative plants across it and hanging from the cloth awning shading it. Poppies, roses, lilies, and orchids were a few he recognized. And in the center, white patio furniture that almost reminded him of something out of a fairy house. The garden was a beautiful place, almost magical. Almost. The fields were some ways away, but he could see them, and a few laborers the size of ants milling about. That was the only thing that ruined the magic.

He watched the fields for awhile, and he wondered if Nemu was behind the fields in the cemetery, waiting for the sun to set so she could... do whatever ghost girls did.

What _did_ ghost do in their spare time, he wondered. Braid their hair? Play practical jokes? Watch television? Throw ghost parties? He reminded himself to ask Nemu when he saw her next.

He wandered through the house again, calling her name as he wandered about. It was a little lonely, he thought, and he wondered how his grandfather lived there without going insane. It made sense why he didn't mind Candice and Bambietta staying for the day, he thought.

He found the family room again and managed to turn on the television and find a cartoon channel. He sat in silence, glued to the show on the flat screen.

The door opened sometime later, and Candice walked in with a broom, a dust pan clipped to its shaft, a rag, and small vacuum in her hands. She was wearing a pleated skirt and a large t-shirt, _Adidas_ printed across her bosom, and she was barefoot.

"Hi Candi," he smiled at her, and she nodded at him, quietly saying hello.

"I'll get this room later." She spoke softly.

"No, it's okay." Uryuu said, and he folded his legs on the couch.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she rushed in. "I'll be fast."

"No need to be." He shrugged. "Have you seen Nemu around?"

Candice looked over from the corner, her stylized brows furrowed. "Who's that? Did someone come over this morning?"

"No, she was in my room last night while I was in bed. She's really pretty, with a black dress and long braid."

"No, I haven't seen anyone who looks like that. And last night? Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" She asked.

He frowned. "Nemu wasn't a dream." He argued. "She's real. I even saw her grave last night!"

She blinked. "Souken took you to the graveyard last night?"

"No, Nemu took me there. She said her dad cut her throat and she was left in the basement until he died too. She's really sad."

"You've got some seriously twisted dreams, little man." She remarked, pulling her hair into a low ponytail and tying it off.

"She wasn't a dream." He muttered.

"Sure," she said with finality.

The boy wilted, and turned his attention to the television. She vacuumed the square rug in the center of the room, and after she finished the rest of her routine, she left with the door open behind her.

And it slowly slid shut, clicking shut, and the room grew cold, and he remembered how cold his room was when Nemu was in there.

"Nemu?" He whispered quietly, and the floor creaked. "Nemu, are you in here?"

He jumped off the couch and whisked the curtains shut, and the room darkened. He turned around, and he could make out the soft outline of a child, just a slight distortion of light as if she was a crystal clear statue, and he grinned.

"Hi, Nemu," he said, and she waved at him. "Do you want to watch some cartoons with me?" He asked, and it seemed like she nodded.

The two children leaped on the couch and he watched her outline curl her legs up to her chin. He crossed his legs, and he glanced from the television to her and back.

"It's Teen Titans. Ryuuken doesn't let me watch a lot of cartoons, but I do when he's working on the weekends. This is one of my favorites. Beast Boy is my favorite character, he's the green one in the purple and black suit."

She nodded.

"I think you'd like Raven. She's quiet, but she's cool. She's got cool powers that can let her walk through walls and levitate things, and her dad's a bad guy who hurt her." Uryuu informed her, and she straightened out her skinny legs, and her knees didn't even reach the edge of the cushions.

"Do you like it? The cartoon? Because we can change it if you want." He asked, and she shook her head. "Change it?" She shook her head again. "'Kay, just making sure."

It was fairly quiet after that between them. He constantly looked between Nemu and the television, and he felt equally nervous and curious of her. He wanted to ask her a million questions, like where she went when he couldn't see her, and why he could see her so clearly last night but not then, and he wondered why she wasn't talking, and why he was the only one in the house aware of her.

The door swung open, revealing Candice, sans cleaning supplies and wearing her boots from the other day. "Lunch is downstairs. Grilled cheese and tomato soup," she said. "Let's go eat."

"Okay," Uryuu rolled off the couch, grabbing Nemu by her wrist, only his hand went through hers, and he furrowed his brow. She was gone. He couldn't see the glassy distortion where she sat.

"You okay?" The teen asked, and he turned around to face her.

"Nemu's gone." He said. "She was just here. We were watching cartoons together."

"I'm sure she'll come back." She sighed. "Come on, I'm starving."

"O-okay," the boy relented. "Bye Nemu, I'll be back soon. I'll leave the TV on in case you're still here."

The two made their way downstairs, and they found Souken reading the paper at the table as he ate.

"Hello, you two." His grandfather set the paper aside and smiled widely, and they sat. "How's your day been, Uryuu?" His grandfather inquired.

"I went exploring, and then Nemu and I watched cartoons together. She says she likes Teen Titans."

"Oh, really?" Souken replied. "What does she like about it?"

"She didn't say. For some reason, she wasn't talking. I told her about Raven, though, and I think she likes her. Which is good because I like Beast Boy and Beast Boy and Raven like each other."

"That's nice. Have you two just been watching television?"

"Yeah, pretty much." His shoulders slumped.

"See you guys tonight." Candice suddenly chirped, and he watched her collect her dishes and wash them before running upstairs.

"I'm done too. Bye, Grandpa." Uryuu said, sliding off his chair and rinsing his dishes in the sink.

"Alright, I'll come get you in a few hours." The elder replied.

"'Kay,"

He found his way back into the family room. It was still freezing, and after he shut the door, he could see Nemu's outline on the couch, and he wondered if light affected her visibility.

"One second," he said, and he flipped off the lightswitch, leaving only the light from the television to illuminate the room, and when he turned around, and saw Nemu. She was translucent compared to her corporeal form from the night previous, but he could make out her eyes and hair and the folds of her dress and the details of her braid, and he grinned at her. He was correct, light affected her visibility. The darker it was, the more visible she was.

"Hi, Nemu," he said, and she waved at him, her face placid but serene. He crawled next to her and he crossed his skinny legs on the cushion, and he scooted closer to her.

"So? Have you seen any cartoons that you like? Like _really_ like?"

"I saw that one with Raven's daddy. I like that cartoon." The ghost said. "I like Raven especially, and I like her friendship with Beast Boy. I like her friendship with Starfire too. I want a girl friend like that."

"My friends Chad and Ichigo are like Cyborg. Well… except they're not black but that's okay. They'll lie to Ryuuken for me and say we're working on homework instead of playing video games, and they don't tease me for hanging out with the girls at school, and they think that my sewing's pretty cool and one time Ichigo even paid me five dollars to make a lion plushie for his little sister for her birthday. Her name's Yuzu, and he got the younger twin Karin a GI Joe. Karin's a tomboy like that, but I don't mind." He babbled, and she listened attentively.

"What's a 'GI Joe'?" She asked.

"It's like a doll meant for boys, but not all boys like to play with them, and some girls, like Karin, like playing with them. I personally don't play them, but it's okay if you would." He said.

"I like girly dolls. Mommy had a collection of them in the house, and Daddy kept them after she died, but he never let me play with them. They were all really pretty, like Mommy. Daddy kept a picture of her in his office, and from what I remember, I look a lot like her. Only, Mommy's prettier." She frowned, and she looked back at the television, her pine green eyes brimming with tears. "You know, Daddy used to say I was ugly. He'd call me annoying when I was crying, and he said I was his property when I didn't want to do things for him to get me to do them, and he dragged me by my hair and locked me in my room when I did something he didn't like." She confessed softly. "I don't know why he did all of that, because he'd say he loved me at least once a day. It's all very confusing."

Uryuu frowned with her. "I don't like your dad. He didn't love you. Dads who love you don't hurt you and call you ugly and annoying, that's what Grandpa told me."

"I know, but he's my Daddy, and you're supposed to love your Daddy."

"Normally, yeah, but dads aren't supposed to be mean." Uryuu argued. "Grandpa's a much better dad."

She rested her forehead on her knees, and it was silent between them. He worried if he offended her, but kept his mouth shut. He was right, he thought, and he would stand by his logic.

The door opened, allowing light from the hall in and Nemu vanished, and Uryuu saw Souken in the doorway, Candice peeking over his shoulder.

"Are you ready, my boy?" The elder asked, and he nodded, climbing off the couch.

"I'll be back soon, Nemu." He said before he closed the door. "We're just going to get stuff for exploding bubbles, and I promise I'll be back soon."

"Come on," The teen grumbled impatiently.

"'Kay,"

The three climbed into Souken's Cadillac outside, and the elder told them to buckle up, and they did. Uryuu stared out the window, watching the trees and small stores and houses pass by him, and he wished he could have taken Nemu, because she was probably lonely and he didn't want her to be lonely. He hoped they would be quick.

Souken drove them into the university and killed the engine, and the three climbed out and followed the elder through the maze of buildings.

"Where are we going?" The boy whispered to Candice.

She hummed. "The university has a little store where science teachers and people with proper licenses can buy supplies like chemicals and stuff for class. We're probably going there." She explained.

"Okay," he said. At least he knew where his teacher got the stuff for experiments.

They stopped outside of a single-story building, and Souken told them to wait outside as he went in.

"Why do we have to wait out here?" He asked.

"If I had to guess, it'd be because you have to have a license to buy flamable gases like oxygen, and that license is something Souken doesn't have but he's likely going to pull some strings to get it which is illegal. He probably doesn't want us as witnesses."

"Oh," the boy said. So his grandfather was an outlaw, he thought. Wonderful.

He wondered if that made him an accomplice, and then concluded that it wasn't murder and he needed to relax.

His grandfather returned with a small canister, and he told the children to follow, and Candice held it in the front seat while he drove.

There was a quick trip to the grocery store in which they picked up eggs, sugar, milk, peppers, pasta, cereal, shampoo and soap. Uryuu whispered to his grandfather towards the end that he needed to use the men's room, so their small party made their way to the lavatory in the back, and he did his business, and when he came out, a thin, hardback book caught his eye from the corner of his eye. It was a children's book, one of those from Scholastic that he saw in the school's library. It was simply titled _Ghosts_ in a swirling, 'spooky' font, and illustrated below it was a graveyard with a sheet ghost wrapped around a headstone. He picked it off the shelf and opened it, and as his eyes skimmed over the text, he soon realized it was informational, and his thoughts immediately went to Nemu, and he wondered if it could give them some information about ghosts that would help him with her.

He ran over to his grandfather and poked his back, and the elder turned around and looked down at him.

"Grandpa, can I get this?" He whispered, showing him the book, and the old man smiled.

"I don't see why not. Come along now, we've got to check these out."

They checked out at the front, and back in the car, Uryuu held the new book to his chest.

As soon a they arrived back home, he ran upstairs to the family room and shut the door behind him, shutting out the light excluding the still-running television. Nemu was still on the couch, swinging her skinny legs over the edge of the cushion, and she looked up and waved at him.

"Hi," he said. "We're back."

"Good evening," she said, and he plopped next to her and showed her the book. "What's that?" She asked.

"It's a book on ghosts. I saw it at the store, and I thought of you. Do you want to read it together?" He asked her, and she nodded.

"Read it to me?" She asked, and he blinked in astonishment.

"I-it isn't a bedtime story." He argued, but she scooted closer to him and curled up at his side, and he sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine, you win."

He opened the book, and he read the text to her, and she rest her cold cheek on his shoulder, and he shivered despite his cheeks being warm.

The evening came and went quickly after that. It rained after supper, and Souken wasn't comfortable using combustible gases inside, so the demonstration was called off until a later date, much to Uryuu's disappointment. Eventually, he was sent to bed, and he lay under the covers and watched Nemu lay across the floor as she read the book he got earlier.

"Night, Nemu." He whispered to the ghost, and she was blurry because he wasn't wearing his glasses, but she was still cute. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night-night," she said, and he drifted to sleep.


End file.
